Full disclosure, I’ve been a fan of Phil Mickelson for a lot of years, but I’m aiming for impartiality here.
The Masters is happening this weekend and Phil isn’t in Augusta. Other than an ESPN Daily piece on Wednesday which talks about an article by Mark Schlabach, not much has been said about Phil. The story has been all about Tiger - as it should be.
The reason for Phil’s absence is clearly that Phil f***ed up. But what should we make of it?
In the eyes of the media, and the public, there seems to be a sense that we each needs to pick a side. The issue - and the man - must be painted as black or white. Bad or good. That’s the way we do things these days. Hug him or ‘cancel‘ him... and the safest course for most is to vote 'bad'.
I think both options are wrong. I think on this one, and so many other contentious issues, the most honest and healthy perspective is to admit that this one is very grey.
Phil said bad things about the Saudis. So have many others…and many more have at least thought exactly what he said.
Phil said he was considering accepting money to showcase his talents from a government with a poor track record on human rights. This seems clearly wrong, but is he the first? Hello IOC. Hello FIFA. Hello FIA. Hello PGA. Hello ATP. Hello NBA. Hello world.
Phil then admitted that his primary motivation was to use this Golf Super League concept as a way to gain leverage with the PGA Tour in order to make positive changes for the players and the game - many of which the PGA has consequently said they will consider. No, the ends don‘t justify the means, but…
So I’m left with the feeling here that Phil is mostly a good guy who wants to do good things for the right reasons. In this case he decided to play a little dirty… and then naively admitted both his dirty plans and his uneasiness to a journalist. Phil f***ed up.
Yes, this adds a bit of tarnish to the shiny image Phil once had with me… as did his loosely veiled press conference comments about Tom Watson a number of years back. Again, too honest.
So Phil is imperfect. He clearly is not ALL good. But neither is he ALL bad. He’s human and I’m going to give him a chance to do the right thing going forward. I’ll reserve my judgement until he reveals a bit more of his character on this one. I'll continually shape my view as we move through time.
I’ll give Phil another chance here, not because I’m a fan, but because the truth is that we’re ALL a bit grey. Why pretend that ANYONE is completely black or white?
Let’s be honest. Most issues in the today’s world reside in the grey. If we can simply stop insisting that everything must be either black or white, it quickly becomes much easier to sit back and enjoy the golf.
Fore!
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I love hearing your perspective, Bruce. So many other examples come to mind, even Tiger, who seems to have weathered some pretty despicable behavior. My question is, where does the grey end? If it’s all a continuum then we’re going to continue to exacerbate what I view as a lot of ugliness and hate in our world. I don’t practice my religion I was brought up with as I find it extremely hypocritical, but what happened to ‘honor your neighbor’, or just basic decorum for those walking this earth alongside each one of us? Where is the line?